Green Genesis
by johno12
Summary: A based on a Nuzlocke challenge of "Pokémon LeafGreen", featuring the adventures of a hapless and unlucky young inventor named Dylan who unwittingly gets himself involved into a vigorous, humorous, and emotional Nuzlocke adventure.
1. The Rules

Hello all. I'm taking part in a Nuzlocke challenge, which is usually done as a comic, but I decided to do it in a story format since my drawing skills lack lol.

I hope there's some interest for a Nuzlocke story. If anyone is unfamiliar with the "Nuzlocke" term or what the challenge entails, it is basically a hardcore Pokemon player's game. Here are the rules I am abiding by in-game:

1) Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead, and must be released.

2) Only the first Pokémon encountered in any given area/route/whatever is available for capture, and NONE ELSE. Repeats, however, can be waived (for example if a Pidgey is caught on Route 1, and the first Pokémon I encounter on Route 6 is a Pidgey, I can catch the next Pokémon I encounter if I so choose).

3) All captured Pokémon must be nicknamed, for the sake of encouraging a stronger bond.

4) A black out/white out screen is considered a GAME OVER.

5) In-game trades are not allowed. However, NPC-received freebie Pokémon (for example, a gifted Eevee or an egg you receive from an NPC) are allowed.

6) Resetting/reloading the game after a failure is not allowed. What's done is done!

One might ask - why on Earth would you do this?!

Many challengers feel that the rules also serve the purpose of encouraging the use of Pokémon the player would not normally choose, and promoting closer bonds with the player's Pokémon. Indeed, when a team mate is lost it's nearly devastating. You nickname them and you get this idea of what they are in your head for the story you're going to tell, so when one is lost, it's a dramatic feeling.

I hope you guys enjoy the story :)


	2. No Turning Back

_Dear Mom and Waffles,_

_How are you doing? I hope that little Whismur is keeping quiet around the house now that I'm about and about and he has no one to Uproar awake in the morning. I honestly do miss the little guy though. Hope he misses me too._

_I hope you're doing alright on your own. I know you're the one who kicked me out and all, but I know you didn't really want to. You did it for my own good and, while I can't say it's been great yet, it's been okay and I see room for it to get better. I'll see you in a few monthes, and I'll remember to mail you every time I possibly can._

_Love, your favorite (and only) son, _

_Dylan_

* * *

Dylan's mother read this letter with pursed lips, deeply irritated by the misspelling of the word "months" as "monthes".

As a stay-at-home mother, she made it her duty to make sure he was as educated as possible, but her son was always the stubborn type. The typical boy, minus any form of athleticism, he gave her a lot of trouble throughout the years and so sending him to some prestigious camp in Pallet Town, Kanto felt like the best opportunity to get him a proper education – and truthfully, it was mostly done to get him out of the house.

Not book smart by any means, her son Dylan was an innovator at heart. Determined and fiery in his passion for electronics, he taught himself how to build and mechanize many things, something she's not sure where he learned. He never built anything that lasted very long, they were either very silly and disposable or they'd explode in his face.

_Good thing Dylan's capable of taking many hits, Lord only knows how many times that boy has shocked himself until he peed his pants_, she'd always thought to herself reassuringly, _He'll do fine out there on his own._

And the more she thought about him and his inventions, the more she linked it back to his genius father, memories she'd rather suppress since he abandoned his family years ago.

With her mind astray in these moments, she folded up the letter and decided to wander around the house. Going through the fridge, she noticed how much food was left over without Dylan around. Her pet Whismur, the ever-so whimsical Waffles, strutted through the house. He seemed almost lost without Dylan, the usually scream-in-his-face morning routine being moot now. And then all of the extra rolls of toilet paper in the closet? She'd have leftovers by the time he came back home. If and when that'd be, she didn't know.

As much as she knew she'd miss having her son around the house, she knew it'd be better for him to develop more skills than just his tinkering and maybe he'll make something of himself.

* * *

It was probably about Dylan's tenth read-through of the letter when he finally, and carefully, folded it up and hesitantly dropped it into an envelope.

As the fourteen year old licked the seam, he began to wonder if he missed any grammatical or spelling errors. He knew his mother was incredibly demanding and picky when it came to his writing, so sending her these constant letters is probably her way of having a lesson away from home. While his mother's true passion was in the Super Contests she went through in her younger days, she always did have a kick for teaching so the homeschooling thing – while not her natural fit – worked out a bit well. He did admit that he had his own problems when it came to learning, he just didn't _care_ enough, but he tried his best to please her, even if his best wasn't ever enough.

As he dropped off the letter at the post office in Pallet and watched the delivery Pidgey fly away with it in its grip, Dylan realized why he never did care for Pokémon too much. They always seemed like a distraction from bettering humans on their own. How can humans, so flawed and always needing improvement, help themselves if they're constantly training and bettering their Pokémon? It just didn't seem fair to him, so he always dreamt of inventing things that made human life a lot easier without the need for Pokémon.

People always called him "mean" or "crazy" for thinking that way, but it was just how his brain worked. So as he watched Pidgey fly away, he knew he'd have a new side-project to work on... wings for humans. Something mechanical, something workable and usable, that'll allow people to fly and deliver their own letters. But then as he thought about it more, he began to see that if people could fly, there'd be no need to deliver letters anyway. The more he thought, the more his brain began to hurt, so he just shook the thoughts out of his head and decided to head back to his cabin.

The campgrounds weren't very big, but Dylan didn't like to explore them anyway. He preferred the confines of his own room, tinkering with a project he'd been working on for a while, his own Pokédex. While he never found Pokémon particularly pleasing to him, he always did enjoy the mythology, biology and backgrounds behind each of these creatures. It fascinated him, so an entire electronic database full of this information was something he was interested in. He copied the code from Professor Oak's original Pokédex and pretty much morphed it into his own thing, but it wasn't ready just yet.

* * *

Lux was a Pikachu who lived in the Viridian Forest for the majority of his life, so the view of Viridian City from the peak of a Cheri Berry tree was breathtaking to him. He always had a curiosity for what lies beyond the trees, bushes, and underbrush of the forest, but his family thought he was crazy.

Humans were strange creatures to Lux, who preferred the company of himself and himself alone. His Naughty nature makes him dream often of what he'd do if he were ever in the company of a human, and he always came to the same conclusion. He'd probably zap the shit out of 'em. He smirked at the thought of it.

He was used to having conversations with himself; his family was very high-strung about learning the move Thunderbolt and he didn't want to hear about the stories anymore and that's all they'd ever talk about. His uncle was apparently some war hero, having fought in the Great War between Kanto and Unova alongside his trainer. He's some gym leader now, and his uncle apparently likes to kick butt there, so it's family tradition to honor him and train to be great warriors.

But Lux wanted none of it. He just wanted to leave, to explore, and to be left alone.

So one night, he decided to stop dreaming and stop being afraid of the unknown and to just go for it. So he left the forest, hoping to find a sense of direction on his upcoming journey.

* * *

There was a knock at the door and Dylan begrudgingly got up from his chair. He was always fairly lazy, so in getting up to grab the door he released an audible, exaggerated groan to express his displeasure.

The girl who stood at the door, Autumn, was vividly stunning. She always made sure to make herself look good in front of the boys in camp. Because the camp had a minority of girls, and good looking ones at that, Autumn got a crap ton of attention. And she absolutely adored it all. But because she was stingy when it came to the boys she'd let close to her, having everyone chase her around made it all a big game to Autumn.

Her short stature, long chestnut hair, and the glasses adorned on her face illuminated her brown eyes all gave her a look of innocence and beauty. She had a single studded piercing in her right cheek that gave her rounded face an extra glimmer. She always wore a pair of skin-tight black leggings, brown boots, and a heavy almond-colored coat with some extra fur at the collars. She left the top two buttons undone, revealing a cream-colored top underneath. Autumn preferred to wear all of these dull colors, and for some reason she really pulled it off.

By looking at her, no one would ever know she was the granddaughter of Professor Oak.

"Oh!" Dylan exclaimed. He leaned against the doorframe, with a smirk. "Hey, Autumn, how you doin'?"

This was Dylan trying look cool, but based on Autumn's cocked eyebrow and opened mouth she was not impressed. He didn't take the hint though; Dylan always was too oblivious for his own good.

"Um, I was okay until about five seconds ago and now I'm uncomfortable," Autumn responded coolly. "Professor Oak wants to see the two of us, he told me to come get you. And bring that little doo-hickey thing with you."

"Little doo-hickey thing?" Dylan asked. "What are you...?"

"Your wannabe Pokédex."

Dylan frowned, and then nodded to her. "Uh sure, just give me a sec. Do you know why he wants to see it or...?"

"No idea."

Dylan headed back inside his room, not before "smoothly" inviting Autumn inside his cabin, but she politely – but adamantly – refused. She and Dylan admittedly didn't know each other very well, but she knew his reputation as someone incredibly obnoxious and full of himself so she preferred the comfort of the hallway.

* * *

The walk to Professor Oak's lab was awkward and half-silent.

Dylan tried to make conversation with Autumn a bunch of weird things; she didn't understand why he'd even bring up half of the things he was saying. It seemed clear to her that he honestly thought discussing his unsanitary laundry habits or gastro-intestinal issues thanks to his overeating were comfortable topics of conversation to have with a girl. He was so smooth about it though, it made her very confused. She rolled her eyes about ten times on the walk there.

And it was odd for her too because Dylan was vaguely attractive. He had boyish good looks which were hidden under a childlike presence. His long, messy brown hair stuck out from his chullo hat. It's an article of clothing he always wore, he owned a million different colors but he'd been sticking to a navy blue one with a purple Poké Ball logo on it recently. He wore a tight-fitting red short sleeved shirt with white stripes that made up the sides under his arms and the collar around his neck. He wore fingerless black gloves, with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his blue cargo jeans. His shoes were a similar navy color to the hat. His entire demeanor, his attitude and his clothing, gave off a vibrant aura that naturally and perfectly contrasted Autumn's duller colors.

Upon their arrival to the lab, Professor Oak – the aging, but brilliant professor – approached them swiftly.

"Ah, Autumn, you've brought him. Good, good."

Dylan was truly starstruck. He'd never been this close to Professor Oak before. This guy was his idol, he'd only seen him at assemblies, because he spent most of his time inside of his lab, which was never given open access to anyone. Dylan looked over all of the electronic equipment and conduits and Pokémon and other researchers as he walked in with awe, but now his complete attention was on Oak and his presence.

Stuttering like a buffoon, Dylan stammered, "P—Professor, it's nice to meet you. I – I don't know why I'm here but it's – it's really an honor, sin-sin-sincerely, sir."

The Professor seemed charmed by Dylan's enamoring behavior. He just chuckled softly and said, "This is about you and your future at my Training School."

Dylan winced. He knew he had failed many classes in the last semester and wasn't taking school seriously, but he didn't want to have to return home to live with his mother and forever be a disappointment to her. He felt like he was ready to barf in that moment, all over the professor that inspired him and all over his hot granddaughter too.

"I think you're ready to move on, Dylan, and graduate and become an exceptional Pokémon trainer."

These words made Dylan confused instantaneously.

"T—Trainer? What?"

Even Autumn gasped in the moment, "Huh?"

"Now, your grades are subpar, but the coaches have taken a liking to your optimism and your inventing abilities. You show great interest in the biology of Pokémon and you seem like an excellent candidate to continue my studies," Professor Oak explained.

"Then why am I hear, gramps?" Autumn asked impatiently as she crossed her arms in disapproval.

"Because I want you to go too, Autumn."

Autumn and Dylan exchanged glances with each other. They both were very surprised by this revelation.

"I – I'm not sure if being a Trainer is something I'm interested in, honestly," Dylan admitted. "I'd rather be an inventor or a researcher or something technical, I haven't really decided yet."

"Collecting Pokémon isn't about training," the professor explained. "You can journey through Kanto, catch multiple Pokémon and just start a collection for you to research if that's what pleases you. I just think you have tons of potential."

If Dylan was ready to barf earlier, now he was just ready to explode all over the walls.

This was all happening so quickly, it didn't quite feel real to him. He was ecstatic at the opportunity presented to him. Initially he feared he'd be shoehorned into a trainer position but now he's available to do whatever he pleases.

"Let me see your Pokédex, Dylan, I'll see if it's suitable to take on your journey and I'll get Autumn one of mine," the professor said.

Dylan handed over his Pokédex to the Professor. Oak examined the piece of equipment, poked and prodded at it, and then gasped in horror and confusion.

"You – built a Nuzlocke Pokédex?"

"Yeah, it sounded cool right?!" Dylan exclaimed.

He had saw a late-night special when he started building the Pokédex on how rare and difficult to build a Nuzlocke branded one was, so he took the challenge without reading much into it. The professor's face, however, showed him a different story other than being just impressed.

"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, have you?"

Dylan gulped and looked up nervously.

"No," he admitted. "Is it bad?"

"A Nuzlocke is a challenge for exclusive trainers, and it's extremely dangerous," Oak said sternly. "And now that you've already applied for it, there's no turning back. You have no choice but to continue with it and defeat the Pokémon League as a full-fledged Pokémon Trainer."


	3. By Death, By Choice

_"Look to the stars," she always said. "You'll find what you're looking for up there."_

_The view from the peak of the Indigo Plateau provided a stellar view of the skies that stretch above Viridian City and Pallet Town like a wide-open canvas, with a never-ending spectrum of colors that fill it. _

_Ike was a tiny charmander. Smaller in stature in comparison to the others, surely, but his fiery determination more than made up for it. He was only a level two at this point, but he already found a fascination in the stars and the shapes their connecting rays could make in his mind. His mother, a gentle charizard, would always tell stories about constellations like the Big Drowzee or Farfetch'd's Stick and how all of them connect into bigger and better images in the sky. Whenever he was sad or lonely or scared, which was quite often for such a tiny little creature, Ike would always follow his mother's advice._

_"Look to the stars. You'll find what you're looking for up there."_

_One night, a large machine - man-made no doubt - hovered over the top of the plateau. The two gallant charizard that Ike called his parents stood at the peak and shouted back at their son to return to the thickets and hide. The machine had rotating propellers and made loud noises that frightened Ike to his core, glued him to his place in the grass. He heard his father call it a helicopter._

_Men in strange uniforms with a red "R" logo escaped from the helicopter, throwing Poke Balls and releasing numerous creatures; a vicious rhydon and a kangaskhan were released onto the field to face off against Ike's mighty parents. Ike scattered back as he heard the roars of his parents, he didn't want to witness this and he didn't want to disappoint them either. He wanted to make sure that he hid in the thickets as instructed so that when his parents returned, they would not scold him for his hesitation or disobedience._

_The noises Ike heard from behind him were loud and frightening. His little legs kept running and running and running, and he didn't stop until he pushed himself forward, dove into the thicket, and buried his face in the dirt. When the roars of his parents seized to exist, he lie there, rolled over, and stared up into the sky. He was frightened, he was crying, he knew that something awful had happened and he'd likely never see his parents again. He found himself eerily soothed by the presence of the bright stars..._

_"Look to the stars. You'll find what you're looking for up there."_

_Some parents leave by choice. Ike's left by death._

* * *

_Ursula was a very territorial mankey. She lived alone on Route 22, underneath the intimidating Indigo Plateau, and often steered away intruders to her home in the trees with violence. She didn't understand how the humans in the nearby town lived with their families and amongst each other. Mankey preferred to be alone. They abandoned their younglings at infancy and allowed them to experience the world for themselves. _

_She never knew anything else except to act with violence, it was just in her nature and one man took advantage of it._

_He wore a strange uniform with a red "R" logo emblazoned on the front, and he commanded a fierce ekans into battle with her. She managed to put up a good fight, but the ekans's Wrap rendered her like a mental patient in a straightjacket - restricted and frightened._

_The man approached her in her binding and said that he was part of a group of folks who wanted to extend power across the Kanto region. _

_"I admire your strength," the man said with a soft smile. He extended a hand. He had a calming presence that seemed to render even Ursula lax._

_"You seem to take great pride in your power and you want to make sure you grow stronger day in and day out. Is that correct?"_

_Ursula tried to be defiant, but eventually, as he talked more and more, she gave into him. His talk of evolving into a Primeape and connecting with the world in ways she'd only dream of fascinated her. She wanted nothing more than to be under the guidance of a trainer who would take control of her strength and build upon it. She was excited to travel, to see the world, and to fight many powerful opponents but she wanted to make sure she was in the right hands._

_"I am one of the Rocket Brothers," he announced with a sense of inflated pride. "Call me Damian."_

_When she shook the man's hand and was captured in his Poke Ball, she felt she made the right decision._

_She was officially a member of Team Rocket._

* * *

Dumbstruck by the professor's words, Dylan was at a loss. Admittedly, he saw a late night program discussing the "challenging" and "stimulating" Nuzlocke challenge and the instructions on how to sign up. The details must have went through one ear and out the other.

Pokédex are sorted by brand, their wiring and set-up determine what kind of trainer one will become. When signed up, that trainer becomes attached to _that_ Pokédex. Dylan had heard of many different Pokédex, like one for coordinators, who partook in Pokémon Contests like his own mother had in her day. There were athletic Pokédex for those who wished to train their party as athletes in the Pokéathlon competitions, and he even heard of some rarer variations like Pokédex for the "Wedlocke Challenge" or the "Randomizer Challenge".

He'd heard horror stories about those challenges and their respective Pokédexes, but nothing ever came up about a Nuzlocke Pokédex or any sort of challenge it'd bring along with it. It seemed so obscure and loose based on his lack of knowledge toward the subject, so he figured he'd build it as it seemed to have very little consequences. Boy, how wrong he was.

"What the heck is it, then?" was all he could muster. And then he stammered, "And what do you mean? I can't change it? I can't just say "Oops this was a mistake, I don't want to join this challenge..."?"

Oak shook his head.

"That's, sadly, not how it works," Oak gave a sigh. "Those who devote their lives to being a Nuzlocke trainer devote their _entire lives_ to the challenge. It was created as a way to deeply study the bonds between humans and their pokémon."

He gave a deep sigh and then continued, "In a Nuzlocke challenge, you are only allowed to capture the first pokémon you encounter on any given route. And you MUST nickname every capture."

"Well one per route is kind of a bummer," Dylan admitted. "But the nicknaming sounds fun..."

"...When your pokémon loses a battle, it dies," Oak continued. "Which means the nicknaming process is not for the purposes of fun, it's for the purpose of making you feel guilt and hurt when your friend perishes in battle. You are required to take on the gyms and the pokémon League under these pretenses, until the day you fail a challenge."

"So this will be something I have to do for the rest of my life?!" Dylan shrieked. He had not intended for this voice to get that high, but he couldn't help it. The idea of his pokémon dying? Doing this forever? It all just was not anything he had planned for himself, it all seemed so crazy and unorthodox. Surely, Dylan was a bit crazy and unorthodox himself, but not to _this _extent.

"You need at least three regions under your belt," Oak began. "I'm sorry, Dylan, but this is on no one but you."

Dylan gave a great sigh. As much as he had reservations about this, about the idea of this journey on the whole, he knew he couldn't let it bring him down. There was always the "challenge" and the "stimulating" experience he'd have ahead of him. And Oak did seem impressed with the structure of the internal data in his Nuzlocke Pokédex, so at least he was able to build something and have more challenges ahead of him. He thrived on the challenge, the thirst for victory and acclaim, so this actually gave him something to constantly strive for despite its limitations. His haste got the best of him, yet again. But as he always managed to wonder - would he ever learn?

"Fine," Dylan conceded with a smile, "Let's get this show on the road then! Don't I get to pick a pokémon to start my journey?!"

Oak scoffed and then smiled, managing to blink more times in these past twenty seconds than he had in this entire conversation. A reaction of complete surprise, awe, and wonder.

"You're just... ready to go?" he asked. "No crying? No begging? Nothing? You're just... okay with your hasty mistake and you want to get this started?"

"Ah well, can't do anything to fix it, so I might as well just accept what I did."

Oak admired this, he really did. He knew the instructors at the camp saw something in this boy and he didn't realize it until now. His innate optimism and striving for a greater challenge in life made him truly one of a kind.

"Alright," he nodded to both Dylan and Autumn, whose silence highlighted her anxiousness to get this going. "You two can pick now. I'm sure you're familiar with the starter pokémon in the Kanto region? Surely you studied this..."

"Nope," Dylan admitted with a cheeky grin.

"Bulbasaur, the Seed pokémon - Charmander, the Lizard pokémon - and Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle pokémon," Autumn Oak chirped verbatim.

Oak nodded, impressed with her now.

"Very good."

He pulled out a bag and set it on the table, before dumping out its contents.

Three Poke Balls.

They sat on the table, their tops gleaming with the light reflecting off the top.

Dylan had seen battles on TV - he was familiar with the squirtle family. He loved Wartortle, the middle stage. Its fluffy tail and ears made him adore it and he wanted more than anything to own one, so his eyes were set on squirtle from the get-go.

"I call squirtle," he chirped.

Autumn's eyes narrowed at him. "But _I_ wanted squirtle."

"I called _dibs_," Dylan smirked. "I win."

He approached the table, racing Autumn competitively to it. He managed to trip on his own foot and smack right into the face of the table, knocking all three Poke Balls right off! These two - in their ridiculously, and pathetically, immature quarrel - made the professor start second guessing the decision to graduate these two to another level so early.

"Don't make me change my mind," Oak boomed sternly. "As much as I see potential in you two, you're both acting like ten-year-old's. In fact, I'd seen ten-year-old's who have acted much more mature than either of you."

It was true, at least for Dylan, that he wasn't as mature as one would like. He'd lived a sheltered life back at home in Unova, and his mother never insisted on having him leave the house. It may have contributed to his obvious displeasure at the idea of becoming a trainer, or taming pokémon in any sort of capacity. It just wasn't a lifestyle he was accustomed to. And this camp was finally his mother's way of letting go and allowing him to be around teenagers his age, teenagers whose parents had similar philosophies but were finally loosening up - just as long as they got the proper education about their upcoming journeys first. Dylan often wished his mother didn't have such a leash on him, he wondered how it would have changed his perspective throughout life on pokémon and how it could have changed the way he acted too. But alas, he was now a nine year old trapped in a fourteen year old's body.

Autumn though? She was just a pampered brat, as many would call her, babied and dolled up on many occasion by her parents. She wasn't as sheltered persay as Dylan, nor as immature on the usual, but she was just so used to getting what she wanted and when she wanted, that in this moment she just had to throw a bit of a tantrum.

Dylan shook off the injury, but he heard Autumn shriek and call him a name he'd rather not repeat. He snatched the first Poke Ball he found and tossed it, unlocking it and popping open the Poke Ball.

An orange lizard called charmander materialized from the capsule. Dylan gasped. He looked over and saw Autumn holding a squirtle in her arms.

"Looks like I won," she said with a giggle. "And I have the type advantage. That poor little charmander... the luck you have, ending up with this kid as your trainer. Do you know what he's part of? He's part of something called a Nuzlocke, which means you'll likely die..."

She was enjoying this a bit too much honestly, and it was worrying her grandfather, who interrupted with a stern bark, "Autumn, that's _enough_!"

Autumn sunk back into her shell, much like the shy little squirtle in her arms.

Dylan knelt down in front of his charmander, extending a hand.

"The name's Dylan," he introduced himself. "Nice to meet ya. You got a name?"

The bitter-looking charmander blasted a jet of flames in Dylan's face. Luckily, the boy was used to taking hits like this from his constant experiments and inventions gone wrong, so he shook off the soot that was left over on his face and coughed out a ton of smoke. Autumn was giggling, he heard her clearly.

"Well that wasn't very nice," he mumbled.

"Call me Ike," the charmander grumbled in response. And he shoved Dylan's hand away.

"You want to battle? Right here, right now?" Autumn asked, still trying to hold in her laughter.

"Seriously?" Dylan said with complete bemusement. "My charmander _hates me_."

"Yeah, but with his life on the line I don't think he'll want to lose."

"You just want to kill him don't you?" Dylan snapped angrily. He didn't appreciate the mocking tone in her voice.

"What?"

"Do you think this is funny or something?" He was starting to get heated.

"Well, yeah, your stupidity and suffering is amusing, but saying I am actively seeking to _kill your pokémon_ is taking that a bit too far," Autumn said vehemently.

Dylan's anger began to flush away as he recognized the sincere sentimentality in Autumn's voice. She didn't want this for him, and she wasn't seeking to kill his charmander.

Autumn sighed and then she continued, "I just want a bit of good fun, I won't take it too far - at least not this time- I promise."

The battle wasn't as quick as Dylan hoped it'd be. Ike at first didn't want to listen, instead opting to sulk and disobey, before he grew annoyed at the hits he was taking from Autumn's Squirtle. He managed to finally bite back, sending Scratch after Scratch attack to his opponent. Ike actually managed to best the squirtle, blasting flames out of his mouth in a satisfied form of a victory screech.

"That was good," Autumn admitted. She held out a hand. "Sorry for being such a... wench earlier. I came off rotten, but your charmander is pretty strong. Good job."

"Thanks," Dylan said. It was nice to hear those words from her, but he could still sense a tone of condescension in her voice. He did, however, shake her hand.

With his charmander recalled into his Poke Ball, Dylan approached the professor.

"So why's this guy so hostile?" Dylan asked, honestly curious. "I wasn't excited about this and now that I have this guy on my team..."

"...once again, you're the victim of your own haste," Oak said with the shake of his head. "While I recognize your frustration, I refuse to feel for you. If you had only tried to talk it through with Autumn instead of racing like a child to the table, this might not have occurred."

"Well, okay, fine," Dylan sighed. He was growing a bit tired now of being looked down upon. Dylan recognized his flaws and his hastiness, but he didn't like it being beaten on him like a frying pan to the head of a pervert. "Do you know what his story is though? Why is Ike like this?"

"I found Ike a few months ago," Oak began. "He was wandering through Route 1, and he had cried himself the whole way there, saying he followed the stars. His parents were killed by a group of pokémon thieves known as Team Rocket. They're a dangerous underground mafia. So he's overall not too fond of humans. But you'll win him over if you try, I promise. But don't push too hard. He needs a friend, and that requires some breaking into him, but he doesn't need to be shattered. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Dylan lied. The majority of that sentence made no sense at all to him, but he didn't care for any more spiels or lectures. It didn't matter that this man, the professor, was his idol - he really left him heated after that last tongue-lashing he received and he just wanted to leave the lab as soon as possible. The important thing was, he understood Ike now, and felt some sympathy for the angry little guy.

As the professor handed out five Poke Balls to each of them and wished them well on their journey, he stopped Dylan at the door with an extra, "Good luck out there. I'll keep in touch."

Outside the door, Autumn was quick to say goodbye with a smirk and a self righteous jibe, "Smell ya later, Dylan."

She took off her on her own, and despite not wanting to head off on his lonesome, he wasn't going to chase after her. Despite how attractive she was, this girl really was not someone he found appealing due to her personality. She was just too icy for him, too cold, he needed someone who was quite his opposite in terms of smarts but also someone who's willing to cut loose a bit and Autumn just felt too uptight for her own good.

As he stepped foot onto Route 1, Dylan began to toy with the Pokédex he created.

The "LINDA" operating system started up, and Dylan smiled at the remembrance of the cool acronym he created for the Pokédex's OS:

**L**eading  
**I**ntelligence as a  
**N**uzlocke  
**D**ata  
**A**rchiver

The robotic female voice began to go on and on into the rules of a Nuzlocke, which Dylan responded with a "Blah blah blah" to every word. It was a machine after all, not like it had ears.

"I hear you and I suggest you pipe down," the feminine voice on the Pokédex responded.

Dylan's eyes nearly popped out of his socket.

"Wait - did you just... talk?" he asked.

"Oh me?" the Pokédex asked with a twinge of sarcasm in its voice. "Of course not, that's the girl standing behind you speaking..."

And Dylan swiftly turned around, completely confused and wondering if maybe there _was _a girl stood behind him and talking to him.

LINDA chirped with a scoff, "Wow, you are quite dense. I have a lot of work cut out for me if I'm going to whip you into shape, don't I?"

As they crossed into Route 1, the buzzing beedrill and chirping pidgey seemed to annoy Dylan. He was always used to the idea of perhaps making something for himself that didn't involve having pokémon in his life - it was something his father always tried to tell him. Dylan's strange philosophies always bothered his mother for how much they reminded him of his father, who she described as ruthless and vile, but that's not how Dylan remembered him.

* * *

_Dylan didn't remember much about his father, but one memory was incredibly vivid. In fact, it would stick with him for the rest of his life. The calm and typically-collected man in his early 20's had rugged features and blue grey hair from what Dylan remembered. Dylan's mother always told her son that his father was wise beyond his years - perhaps time doubled for this man. His intense demeanor and frightening features at such a young age seemed to agree with that sentiment. _

_Dylan remembered only that he was fairly young when his father knelt down beside him and told him, "Son, I'm going away now."_

_He could also recall the tears that stung his eyes. His father was always so good to him - at least that's what he remembered - why would he leave now? He remembered begging him to stay, and he also remembered the lashing out he received for expressing his displeasure at his father leaving._

_"You don't get to tell me what to do!" his father screamed. "One day, you will thank me for this! When we meet again, you'll thank me. So let me go, Dylan!"_

_Always obedient to his father, Dylan did so. He let go. And his father, without a moment's hesitation, turned and walked out of the door. _

_His father didn't leave by death. _

_No. _

_His father left because that was his choice._

_There was always a part of Dylan that wondered if he'd ever see his father again - that hoped he would._

_It wasn't a feeling that sparked out of spite either - despite everything, it was a desire that sparked out of love._


	4. Master Klefki

As much as it bothered him to admit, catching his first pokemon on Route 1 was quite the rewarding experience for Dylan.

It might be easier to explain this situation by saying that not every pokemon is either wild or caught in a Poke Ball. There are exceptions. Some pokemon are recruited for jobs and work around society, but are not under any official ownership. Much like humans, they can come and go to their job as they please. Pidgey and spearow work around the Kanto region to deliver mail, while machop and machoke are great employees for a construction company.

Pokemon employees are easier to please than their human counterparts, as they are often paid in favors or food or shelter. Independent pokemon are a sight to behold, but it never sat well with Dylan that humans who were in need of supporting their families were being replaced by pokemon workers, but the more he thought about it the more he realized how selfish a point-of-view it was.

As a carrier pidgey swooped down with a letter in its mouth, Dylan watched as it began to glide through the air choppily. Its wings rode the wind, but only just barely, and it struggled with the bag of letters it carried over its tiny body. Dylan knew what was coming next. He tried to prepare his arms to catch the bird as if it were a football soaring through the air. He wasn't very close though, as the pidgey made a faceplant into the mud inches in front of Dylan.

He knelt down and helped the pidgey back on her feet as he apologetically stammered, "Oh, s-sorry, I tried to catch you, but I was never very good with my hand-eye coordination…"

The pidgey, eyebrow cocked with a twinge of intense sarcasm, squawked, "Oh you aren't? Hadn't noticed."

She gestured to his hat with her wing, "I remember that hat. You're the kid who had me deliver to your mother in Unova. I really like your hat by the way."

"That means a lot..." Dylan said with a smile as he put a hand on his chullo hat. No one really ever complimented his hats before, he owned tons of chullo hat's but he always got either mocked or looked at strange for wearing them all the time, but he never cared much. His grandmother, who hailed from Snowpoint City and was accustomed to warm clothing, made him at least fifteen chullo hats before she passed, so they held special value to him. It was just nice to see another living thing acknowledge and _like_ one of his hats. "...Honestly."

The pidgey reached into her bag with her wing, and produced a pink envelope. Dylan took the envelope with a smile and a, "Thanks."

He slipped the letter into his backpack and looked at the pidgey with concern, "Are you okay to fly? Your wing looks awful."

Indeed, the pidgey's wing had its edge torn to shreds. Judging by the look on her face, she was hoping he wouldn't notice.

"I put in my two weeks," she grumbled. "I sprained something, a tendon or a muscle, in my wing. They say I need proper training to get it healed."

"What kind of training?" Dylan asked.

"Anything that can get it moving in ways I haven't used it. All I ever did was fly around so it put a lot of stress on it. Other exercise would help."

"Like say… battling?"

The pidgey blinked excessively, a little puzzled. "Sure, I guess… are you insinuating…?"

Dylan pulled out a Poke Ball with a smile. This was actually so exciting, he had to interrupt the pidgey's sentence.

"Do you wanna' come with me? We could help each other out."

The pidgey seemed to look him over a few times. She gave a shrug. "Fine. Seems like it'd be fun."

"You have a name?"

"Roberta."

"Dylan. Nice to meet you, Roberta."

And with that, he threw the Poke Ball and caught his first pokemon. He didn't expect to be so wrapped up in the experience, due to his earlier ambivalence, but it was a positive change. He realized that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Autumn stood on Route 22 allowing the cool breeze to ripple through her long auburn hair. She gave a half-smile, appreciating the view of Indigo Plateau. She lifted up her squirtle, whom she affectionately nicknamed Stefano, and posed him as if he were a giant standing at the edge of the mountain. She pulled a large camera from her bag and took a snapshot from her place on the ledge.

Autumn enjoyed taking pictures from a young age; her mother always considered it a more ladylike option for a career and she oftentimes attempted to push her towards it, as it was a good career to allow Autumn's creativity to flow. Her interests in battling and following in her grandfather's footsteps overtook her passion for photography, however, turning it into merely a hobby. She still enjoyed it, and had the idea of documenting her journey in pictures and gathering them into a book she could look back on in the years to come with her children and grandchildren.

"That was so cute, Stefano," she said with a grin and much emphasis. "You could really be a model… your expressions are to die for."

Stefano's face went from an accepting and grateful smile to a worried one in the blink of an eye. He suddenly sprayed water from his mouth. It was such a surprise, Autumn leapt back and spun around to see what had startled her squirtle.

A mankey had Autumn's camera teeter-tottering in the grip of its natural misaligned arms. Autumn had everything on that camera. Her typically-well-to-do mindframe simply snapped into something a bit more feral upon the realization that her camera was stolen, with her taking on a persona with more resemblance to the pokemon she was chasing after than the usually calm, cool and collected Autumn Oak she was.

As Autumn made her way down the steep ledges of the hill, she heard more voices. They were shouting. She heard something that sounded like fire blazing through the air. She and Stefano made their way to the bottom of the cliff quickly now, but they could not make out where the mankey ran off to through all of the trees and sprawling pathways leading back to Viridian City and off toward Indigo Plateau.

"Maybe that voice is yelling at the mankey," Stefano suggested with a passive shrug. "I mean, it's worth a shot…"

Without a moment's hesitation, his trainer followed his judgment and they ran in the direction of Viridian City, in the direction of the voices, past all of the sprawling trees and many other wild pokemon - some slumbering, some hiding, and a small pack of nidorans of both gender that sat and watched with piqued curiosity over this running human and the shouting one nearby. Upon entering a clearing, Autumn stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the scene up ahead of her.

A messy cute boy with a silly looking chullo hat over his shoulder length brown hair, with a red and white tee and cargo blue jeans was commanding a lazy-looking charmander against a mankey with a camera in its grip. It was Dylan. _The idiot!_, she thought to herself. _T__hat's my camera! He is going to have his charmander fry my camera to a crisp!_

"Stefano, use Water Gun on that charmander!"

It was the first thing that popped in her mind.

_Stefano can take care of the charmander… I'll get the mankey myself._

* * *

Dylan tried his best to get to Ike, but he couldn't. Having battled a few trainers at the Viridian City Pokemon Center at the eye-catching fountain that acted as the centerpiece of the building's lobby, he was forced to resort to his newly-caught pidgey, Roberta, as his own starter refused to listen to him. Roberta was strong enough to take on many of the bug catchers' pokemon, but he had to constantly run to the counter and have her healed because Ike refused to battle. And soon, she began to protest.

"This isn't fair," she said. "I like getting EXP and all but I can't be doing all the work on this team. Emphasis on _team_."

And she was right.

Dylan had to do something, anything, about Ike and his disobedience. But what?

"Do you not like to battle?" Dylan asked the charmander curiously, as he scooped him up under the pits of the orange creature's arms, holding him on eye-level. He hoped that maybe this would help with their connection in some way, as silly as that may sound… it was definitely desperation kicking in. "Or do you just not like _me_?"

Ike proceeded to scorch Dylan's face with an Ember attack, causing the boy to scream in a high-pitched tone. With many onlookers giggling and taking jubilance out of Dylan's suffering, he dropped Ike onto the floor of the Pokemon Center and ran toward that beautiful fountain, past the trainers he just walloped, and dipped his charred face into the freezing temperature water. As he pulled his sopping wet face out of the water, one of the laughing bug catchers leaned in close and had the nerve to jeer, "You've got a little bit of ash still on your cheek there. Let me get that for you…"

Sticking his finger in his mouth and swabbing around, the cocky little bug catcher plopped his finger right onto Dylan's cheek and got rid of the remaining bit of ash.

"There," he bellowed. "Much better."

"And I've still got all your money in my back pocket," Dylan snapped angrily. He had no time to think. He just thought of how humiliated he was and how he couldn't let this douchebag get away with making it worse. "That's right! My back pocket! It's been pressed against _my ass_ for the past hour and a half since I've _kicked yours_, as I've been farting all over it throughout that span of time. You have no room to laugh, punk."

And he points to all of the bug catcher's, his eyes wild.

"And that goes for ALL of you! I took ALL of your money and farted on it!"

Dylan was never great at managing his anger… or coming up with very intelligent insults.

As he made his way out of the center and realized the Viridian City Gym was shut down, he made his way toward the first thing his eye could catch - the Indigo Plateau. He had heard so much about it in school, it was one of the only topics that stuck with him. It had some sort of importance, but he couldn't quite remember what or why…

But he did always have an eye for sightseeing and he hoped that maybe here he could break through to Ike. He had to do it sooner rather than later.

Upon entering a clearing on the route, Dylan pulled out his charmander's Poke Ball, tapped the button in the middle and Ike's tiny and defiant with his arms crossed body materialized. Dylan looked at his charmander sternly.

"I am putting my foot DOWN," he said. "You embarrassed the crap out of me back there! I tried insulting them, and do you know how bad I am at insults? Probably not because you haven't even tried to get to know me."

"Well, I saw your lack of skills back there," Ike replied. "So I guess I do know you a bit after all."

His tone was so dry, so mocking. Dylan couldn't take it.

"Listen, you little brat…"

Ike was about to lay down, right here in the grass, when his eyes drifted off. The Indigo Plateau's tip was caught in his eyesight. Dylan's droning on and on about _whatever_ was blocked out by a buzzing sound. Ike suddenly felt ill, nauseous, as the memories began to pour back into his mind like floodgates had opened and a torrent of remembrance wracked his brain and knocked it over.

He suddenly fell backward, and he saw Dylan's face peering into his. The anger was gone. All Ike saw staring back at him was a face of someone who showed concern, of pure horror from the situation…

As Dylan lifted him up, Ike felt the blood rushing back through his body and his vision straightened out. The blurs stopped and Dylan's voice returned to his ears, "...Ike, bro, seriously, what the heck…?"

"I'm fine," Ike grumbled simply. "Just… a little ill. Probably from that show you put on back there. I don't know what was more embarrassing to watch, you with you face on fire running through a crowd of people or you admitting to said crowd that you have gas."

Dylan sighed. "I'm getting nowhere with you fast, huh?"

That's when they saw a mankey running down the cliffside, with a camera in its hands. Ike's eyes locked on the mankey… he remembered it. More memories flowed back to him, more anger, more resentment. But this time, he could control it. He wasn't going to faint. But he was dead-set on making sure that mankey did.

"Let's catch it…" Dylan said. "Catching pokemon is getting exciting, admittedly, I shouldn't have shrugged it off so quickly."

"I've got this."

"Really?"

The hopeful tone in Dylan's voice made Ike realize that he mistook Ike's lust for vengeance as a way of building bridges between himself and his trainer. It was nothing like that. Ike wasn't doing this for Dylan, not for building up his team or allowing his trainer to catch the vile-looking thing… He was doing this for himself.

"Where are your friends?" Ike spat.

The mankey gave a soft smirk, "What are you on about…?"

"You don't remember me? Well, I remember you well…"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about…"

Ike spat a burst of flames in the mankey's direction. The monkey-like creature dodged, and Ike's attention turned to a shouting voice and a squirtle that just entered the clearing. That was when a stream of water from smacked into Ike's chest like a barrage of gunfire. Ike was thrown into the air, flying backwards. He watched the world twist around him, the trees become entwined with the peak of Indigo Plateau, and the bushes become one with the clouds. Preparing himself for impact with the gravelly ground, Ike was surprised to land in the arms of his trainer.

"Gotcha," he heard Dylan said proudly. Ike looked up at the smiling boy, for once without a hint of anger or pre-judged resentment, and gave a soft smile. But not too soft.

"Thanks."

This made Dylan smile even harder.

"Don't let it get away!" they heard Autumn shout.

Dylan reached into his pocket, and threw a Poke Ball before Ike even had the moment to argue. The ball smacked into the mankey's chest, throwing it backward. Its grip on the camera unlocked and the camera was sent catapulted into the air. Autumn dove for it like a football quarterback, arms outstretched. But Dylan and Ike's attention - both with different emotions and facial expressions, Dylan with one of excitement and hope and Ike with one of pure contempt - was solely on the mankey as the Poke Ball's laser technology vaporized the creature digitally and dragged it inside like a mini vacuum.

The capsule shook once or twice before the button in the middle glowed with a definitive red light, locking in place. Ike gave a roar of anger.

"NO!" he shouted. "Why would you catch that thing? Do you have any idea what it did to me?"

"No," Dylan admitted as he picked up his new mankey's Poke Ball. "Because you never talk to me or tell me what's wrong. I'm willing to listen though."

"I hate to admit this riveting family drama," Autumn's voice said with a heavy tone of sarcasm as she coddled her camera. "But you nearly destroyed my camera."

"Sorry," Dylan said quickly, but sincerely, as he recalled Ike into his Poke Ball. "I'd love to chat some more, but we have to go challenge the Viridian City gym…"

"Oh, you changed your tune pretty fast," Autumn said dryly. "Just yesterday you were Mister I-Don't-Wanna-Train-Pokemon, now all of a sudden you're gung-ho about your Nuzlocke challenge and you're ready to challenge gyms?"

"Sulking about my situation isn't going to change it. so I'm making the best of it. And it's a lot more fun than I expected."

"Well, that's good. I hope you know the Viridian Gym is closed, though…"

But Dylan was already on his way back toward Viridian City, waving at her.

"You just want to hold me up, Autumn… Not falling for it."

"I hope you have a klefki that'll get you in through the doors," she shouted after him. "Because the gym is C-L-O-S-E-D. Closed! I already tried."

And he was out of her eyesight. She shook her head.

_Let him try._

* * *

Dylan pounded on the front double doors to the Viridian City gym and smushed his face against the glass, making a strange face as his eyes darted back and forth through the darkness of the gym. It was hard to make out anything or anyone inside.

"Hello?" he said, muffled by his face's distortion from the glass. "Someone open up…!"

"I told you," he heard Autumn say.

He pulled away, spun around, and saw her stood nearby with her arms crossed.

"Look at the sign, idiot."

She pointed to a sign on the door that Dylan failed to take notice of. He hated reading and didn't think twice that the note posted on the door was worth any of his time… he thought stopping to read it would just hold him up from his gym challenge.

"Sorry, the Viridian City Gym is temporarily closed due to a plumbing issue," Dylan read aloud. "We apologize for the inconvenience, please visit the nearby gym in Pewter City. Be sure to bring a team that is headstrong and ready for a rock-hard challenge."

He gave a pouty face and sighed.

"How the heck do I get to Pewter City then? Do you happen to have a master klefki I could use though?"

Autumn smiled, appreciating the joke, but she was a bit turned off on Dylan's tone. He made it not sound quite like a joke and she really hoped he wasn't _that_ dense.

"Through Viridian Forest, which is that way," Autumn said, pointing down the pathway that was opposite of the one they entered to get to Route 22. "I'm gonna' backtrack and stop for supplies at the Poke Mart."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later then."

And with that, Dylan started off for the pathway to the forest without another look back. Autumn shook her head, feeling embarrassed and stupid that she expected him to wait up for her. So frustratingly oblivious.


End file.
